Is it possible that teachers are on the way to being redundant? Can education do without them? It’s a question posed in an article on slashdot. While the title of the article is thought provoking, reading the article doesn’t actually support the idea.

Children in two remote villages in Ethiopia were given laptop computers by the One Laptop Per Child organization. The laptops were pre-loaded with educational software. No instructions were given to the children about what to do with them.

It didn’t take long for the children to unpack them and figure out how to turn them on. From there, it was a short leap to figuring out what to do with them. According to the article, within 5 days the children were using 47 apps that came with the laptops.

They also figured out that the cameras were disabled. Somehow, they hacked into Android and turned the cameras on.

Within a few months the children, described as illiterate, were “singing the ABC song” and doing some spelling.

While that may seem amazing to people outside of the educational system, it probably wouldn’t be a jaw dropper for most elementary school teachers.

The idea that this would somehow lead to the absence of teachers is interesting. It’s not supported anywhere in the article, but one cannot dismiss such a proposition out of hand. The reason for not simply dismissing the idea is quite simply that education is not a static experience. Not only that, but all children are different, as are their circumstances.

In this writers view, teachers are necessary for more than simply providing educational bits and pieces that add up to meeting a standard. The human experience, the connection of children with their teachers, is a very powerful learning tool.

Listening to the rich cornucopia of stories that elementary teachers read every day to their classes, children’s imaginations take flight. Drawing, painting, and making things puts a very real face on their experiences.

Holding a child’s hand when they need it, comforting them when the day isn’t going well, sharing roasted pumpkin seeds, experiencing the utter joy of a wonderful day, romping through autumn leaves, rolling in the snow, aren’t things a computer, or any other inanimate machine can provide.

Children are very inquisitive. The reason the behaviour of the Ethiopian children wouldn’t stun an elementary school teacher is that they see this kind of behaviour every day.

In this writers 24 years teaching Kindergarten, the entire computer in the classroom and computer lab experience went from a relatively static, here’s how you do this routine, to one of rapid change.

For about 1986 to 1996, the computers were loaded with some educational software, and the teacher taught the children what to do.

From about 1997 to 2010, that whole routine went out the window. The new Kindergartners started showing up on the first day of school knowing what the last class knew on their last day of school. Then, they started showing up knowing much more than the last class did.

This came about as children started growing up with the computer as a constant in their homes. What it came down to was this: the children started teaching each other how to use the machines and how to navigate through the internet and the programs. The Kindergarten and other elementary teachers monitored and helped as needed.

It’s an every day occurrence for young children. The world is their apple and they peel it all the time, all over the planet, sometimes needing a bit of help from their adults.